How sea stars build materials that can see

I expected this to be about another incredible optical adaptation of sea stars: they have long been known (>10y) to have interferometric lenses formed of holes in their "skeletons".

That was the first ever discovery of purely interferometric lensing in biology.

But here's another exciting discovery. It's like sea stars have a huge timescale but a tiny budget for adaptations, and have made surprisingly A LOT from it.

This is worth digging into: "Sea star skeletons are composed of intricate networks of pores that minimize material use while maintaining mechanical performance. In conventional engineering materials, adding pores usually reduces stiffness and strength. The sea star overcomes this challenge through carefully controlled architectural design."

I wonder how we can use this research to adapt industry. Also, good on Penn for bringing diversity to the research team!

Very fascinating ..